Pinup models have been a fixture of marketing at least as far back as World War II, when the US government began using coquettish images of women in pro-war propaganda posters. Pinup models eventually made their way to calendars, which became a sexy marketing and fundraising strategy for everyone from Hugh Hefner to a group of middle-aged British women who raised money for cancer research.
The Hudson Valley’s own Slutsky Lumber is one of the latest examples of the power of the pinup calendar. Its 2021 calendar featuring models in their “lumbersexual” finest was the first step in new owners Rebecca and Jon Falcon’s inspired approach to rebranding Slutsky after purchasing the Ellenville business that World War II veteran George Slutsky founded in 1959.
The couple’s approach to refreshing Slutsky’s brand offers a look into what it takes to get bold with small business marketing and take meaningful risks that reap strong rewards.
A Strong Voice Is Better Than No Voice At All
Without a big budget of a large company to play with, small business owners and their marketing staff can struggle with pushing the boundaries on their campaigns. The result, however, is often middle-of-the road messaging that doesn’t end up spurring potential customers to action. Creating a pinup calendar to increase awareness of Slutsky Lumber was a big risk, but its strong point of view has paid off in both love from the community and Slutsky’s sales.
"A lot of people thought that it had gone out of business years ago or that we just sold lumber, or worse, firewood," says Jon. "They didn't really know that we sold anything for building a house."
The calendar—created in partnership with photographer Victoria Janashvili and Destination Ellenville—features community members and local business owners posing in various states of undress. The calendar was an instant hit in its first year, and model hopefuls quickly lined up to be included in year two.
While working on the calendar, Rebecca also created a new logo, which pays homage to the origin design by local artist Roger Baker (best known for mowing giant portraits into grassy fields) and applied it to a new line of hats, tees, and sweatshirts, as well as cheeky magnets that proclaim “I Heart Wood.” “You walk around Kingston and have a Slutsky hat on and people will stop you,” says Rebecca.
The Falcons say that over the last three years awareness of the business has increased among residents and contractors in surrounding communities, resulting in new customers, the ability to hire more staff, and a newly announced partnership with Kingston-based KSB Build that will help them expand their offerings to include sustainable and high-performance building materials.
Make Sure the Pros Outweigh the Cons
With a background in fashion and design, marketing was already within Rebecca’s wheelhouse when she and Jon purchased Slutsky. The sexy play on the Slutsky name came to her instantly, but that didn’t mean it didn’t give her pause. “The moment that we fell in love with Slutsky I obviously went on a whole marketing frenzy because there's so many puns,” she says.
Before launching into work on the calendar, however, she and Jon ran the idea by George Slutsky himself. “I wanted to make sure he understood the concept and was okay with it,” she says.
Even though they couldn’t predict how the Ellenville community would react to the calendar’s content, the potential to meaningfully increase the business’s awareness and its sales, as well as shine a light on local community members, convinced Rebecca to trust her gut. “I think I just made a list of pros and cons, and there weren't any real cons that I couldn't look past,” she says.
As someone who grew up in a small hamlet of neighboring Orange County, Rebecca also felt strongly about donating calendar profits to a local organization. “Before I felt comfortable pulling the trigger I knew I would like to make it for the good of something else. I really believe in Family of Ellenville,” she says.
Be Willing to Fail
For business owners and organizations with small budgets, going out on a limb with a marketing campaign’s messaging without a guarantee of success can often feel like a waste of precious time and money.
Even though their finances for Slutsky were tight after purchasing the business, the Falcons were able to take a long-term view of their marketing decisions for the business because they purchased it as part of their future goal to develop a local hospitality group that focuses on creating and strengthening mom-and-pop businesses (a Newburgh liquor store and laundromat, a Wurtsboro vintage emporium, and a soon-to-be Slutsky-branded coworking space in Ellenville number among their projects). They knew that moving the needle on a 62-year-old home improvement business’s brand awareness and its sales wouldn’t come without the risk of potential failure.
“I feel like we're just always trying different marketing and sales tactics because it's so important, especially if you're competing against businesses that have big marketing budgets, to just keep trying different ways to get customers in the door until you see something that's starting to stick,” says Jon.
